Page 31 of Take My Hand

Zak’s tongue flicked along his bottom lip. “We should leave you to your breakfast.”

Unable to speak, I nodded and felt a small sense of relief when he turned to Amelia to lead her away. It was short-lived, though, because Dad decided to send me into complete turmoil.

“Why don’t you join us. We’ve only just ordered.”

My head spun around to see him frowning yet smiling at the same time. He seemed torn as he looked between me and Zak. He wanted to be polite, but he was my Dad, and he knew that I liked the boy he’d just invited to our table.

Monique appeared with Dad’s coffee. “Everything okay here?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Dad replied. He nodded in the direction of Zak. “We’ve got two joining us.”

“Oh, okay. Take a seat, guys, and I’ll get you a menu.” She smiled at Amelia and ran a hand down her hair. “I think you look like a milkshake sort of girl. Am I right?”

Amelia nodded and then looked up at her brother who was looking at Monique. “I’ll have a tea, please and a full English. Could Amelia have toast and peanut butter, please?”

“Absolutely,” Monique replied.

Zak hovered at the end of the table, looking at the seat next to me, but when Dad coughed, he pushed Amelia towards me.

“You sit next to Maddy,” he said softly, his eyes firmly on me. “I promise she’s nice.”

As I moved along the bench seat to let her in, I caught Dad staring at me, and when I smiled at him, his shoulders sagged as if regret appeared to weigh him down.

Chapter Twelve

Will

Irrationally, I wanted to punch the little shit’s lights out. Irrational because I quite liked him. He was attentive to his sister, respectful to me, and polite to Monique when she checked in on us. My biggest problem was the way he looked at my daughter. It wasn’t creepy or salacious, but there was something in his eyes. Something I’d seen before. I’d been a teenage boy. It was the look that told me he liked her, a lot. A look that told me he was having thoughts of what could happen between them. He was also making a big effort not to touch her in any way. I could see under the table that his legs were tucked under the seat, and when they both reached for the ketchup at the same time, he drew his hand back like the bottle was on fire.

If he’d just been some kid who wanted to… shit, I couldn’t even contemplate it… I would have probably felt better about it. I could have warned him off with threats to his balls. Zak wasn’t like that, though; he was serious about his studies and his future, which meant he would probably become serious about Maddy.That also meant the probability of a broken heart somewhere along the way.

As for Maddy, it was clear she felt the same way. She was looking anywhere but at him and anything I said she either rolled her eyes at or laughed a little too loud. Fidgeting and restless, her fingertips tapping incessantly like she was drumming a trance beat on the table. She could fall big time for this boy, and I didn’t want her being derailed.

Then again, he might be good for her. He was talking about going to Edinburgh University. If they got serious maybe she’d follow him there. I scrubbed a hand over my face and groaned inwardly. Who the hell thought being the parent of a teenager was easy? Maddy was a good kid, and yet bringing her up was still filled with jeopardy.

“So,” I said, pushing my empty plate away, “how are your parents settling in?”

“Great,” Zak replied. “At least they seem to be. They try not to talk about work when they get home.”

“Daddy works a lot,” Amelia added.

We’d established that she was nine years old, loved Harry Potter and doing colouring books and had gradually lost some of her shyness as the minutes had passed. Her voice was quiet and clear but every time she spoke she aimed it at Zak. Not like she was checking it was okay, but just that she was still a little shy.

“He does,” Zak replied, grinning at her. “But if he didn’t we wouldn’t have all the nice things we have, would we?”

He leaned forward and took a piece of toast that she’d left on her plate, taking a bite out of it. I glanced over at Maddy, and she was watching him, while pretending not to. She definitely had a crush on him, even if I didn’t know my daughter, the blush on her cheeks would give it away.

“I have a trampoline,” Amelia announced.

“Wow,” Maddy replied. “I always wanted a trampoline.”

Did she? I didn’t know that. I would have got her one if I’d known.

“Want to have a go on mine?” Amelia asked.

Zak laughed. “I think maybe Maddy has grown out of wanting a trampoline.”

Amelia’s head whipped around so she could look at my daughter. “You don’t want to go on it? Why not? Everyone loves trampolines.”

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